Else Leirvik. I Never Slept Under the Arch
Else Leirvik. I Never Slept Under the Arch. Installation view, Nomas Foundation, Rome
Else Leirvik. I Never Slept Under the Arch. Installation view, Nomas Foundation, Rome
Else Leirvik. I Never Slept Under the Arch. Installation view, Nomas Foundation, Rome
Else Leirvik. I Never Slept Under the Arch. Installation view, Nomas Foundation, Rome
Curated by Cecilia Canziani and Ilaria Gianni
October 8th - November 20th, 2009
Opening: Thursday October 8th, 2009 at 7.00pm
Nomas Foundation, viale Somalia 33, Rome
Thursday October 8th, 2009 at 7.00pm Nomas Foundation presents I Never Slept Under the Arch, the first solo show of Norwegian artist Else Leirvik, which includes new works especially conceived for the space of the foundation.
Inspired by Federico Fellini’s Le notti di Cabiria and to the main character of the film, I Never Slept Under the Arch is a complex installation composed of a series of sculptures and a video.
Cabiria’s house takes form in the space of Nomas Foundation by fragments, allusions, visions. An arch made of black ribbon, sculptures that remind of jewel caskets, boxes, fabric fans are the reinterpretation of personal memory shifted onto the collective level. The close up of female hands mending a piece of fabric consumed by time allude to the power of objects to suggest stories and narratives.
The sculptures are props for a life; they trace the limits of a house that symbolizes independence and protection. Delicately and inesorably the echo of the Scandinavian female world, hidden from light, resurfaces: Cabiria’s night is transposed into the infinite Nordic nights and Fellini’s atmospheres. Leirvik describes the complexity in the things that are nearest reminding us that each object contains a history of longing, loss, identity, love, and happiness.
On the occasion of the exhibition, Else Leirvik has been invited to inaugurate the editorial project Nomas Notes, published by NERO and edited by Cecilia Canziani and Ilaria Gianni.
Else Leirvik (1972) lives and works in Stavanger, Norway.
Solo shows: Galerie Opdahl, Berlin, 2008; Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger, 2007; Galleri Sølvberget, Stavanger, 2005.
Group shows (selected): Galleri Rekord, Oslo, 2008; Market, Stockholm, 2008; Bergen Kunsthall, 2006; Art Copenhagen, 2005; Art Forum Berlin, 2005; Hordaland Artcenter, 2003; Vestlandske kunstmisjon, The bridge, 2003; Galleri 21 kvm, 2003; Vestlandsutstillingen, 2003; Galleri Sølvberget, Lucky Bar, Stavanger, 2003; Hå gamle prestegård, Degree Show, 2003; Kunstmuseet i Bergen, Degree Show, 2003.